Two Tools to Solve Traffic Violence
By Shaun Abreu and Donovan Richards
Last September, at 1:30 a.m. on Amsterdam Avenue, a driver struck and killed a 28-year-old named Pedro Garcia Gomez on his bicycle. At that hour, in accordance with state law, every speed safety camera in New York City was shut off – restricted from operating, as they are every night from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and every single hour of the weekend.
Gomez’s death is part of a rising tide of traffic violence in New York City – more New Yorkers are being killed in crashes than at any time in the Vision Zero era. This is, at its core, a problem of vehicle speeds: Speeding is a major factor in four of every five fatal crashes in New York City.
This is also a problem we know how to solve. While research shows that armed police traffic enforcement does not reduce traffic fatalities and puts the lives of people, especially people of color, at risk of police violence, there are two life-saving tools that we know reduce speeding and traffic fatalities: automated speed safety cameras and street redesigns.
Redesigning streets is the gold standard of traffic safety. When traffic engineers add curb extensions to streets, drivers slow down. When New York City added high-viz crosswalks, crashes fell 48 percent. When the city added protected bike lanes, injuries and fatalities fell 70 percent.
However, redesigning streets takes time and money, and right now, we are in an escalating traffic safety crisis – which is why we need, in addition, a more immediate solution: expanding the operating hours of New York City’s speed safety camera program. These cameras are widely effective: Speeding declined 72 percent and traffic fatalities 55 percent at camera sites. In 2019 and 2020, two-thirds of drivers who received one violation never received a second – evidence of cameras changing driving behavior for the long term.
However, limitations on the operating hours of this life-saving tool blunt its effectiveness: 59 percent of traffic fatalities occur when the cameras are restricted by state law from operating, and 100 percent of the recent rise in traffic fatalities are occurring when the cameras turn off.
The New York state legislature must reauthorize New York City’s speed safety camera program this session and remove the deadly restrictions on operating hours – so as we work to redesign our streets, all New Yorkers are protected from speeding drivers 24/7. Home rule legislation, which would allow the city to independently make decisions about how to use its speed cameras, is much needed.
To bridge the gap between the speed safety cameras we need today and the street redesigns we are striving for in the coming weeks and months, we also strongly encourage the city to earmark fines collected by speed safety cameras directly to redesigning streets in the communities where the violation occurred. Every dollar collected for speeding on an unsafe street should be dedicated directly to the community most at risk from living among speeding drivers.
New York City’s speed safety camera program has been shown to distribute violations evenly across the city, with no correlation between the number of tickets issued and the demographics of a neighborhood. Speed safety cameras issue a ticket uniformly to any vehicle exceeding the speed limit, regardless of race, age, background, legal or economic status. And speed safety cameras reduce the city’s reliance on armed officers to police traffic and reduce New Yorkers’ risk of a violent interaction with police.
While, in every borough, the wealthiest New Yorkers are the ones most likely to own a car, and both white and wealthy New Yorkers are the ones most likely to speed, historic disinvestment in non-white neighborhoods has left people of color more at risk of being killed or injured in a traffic crash. Too often, the streets where reckless driving occurs are the same ones that have been denied the traffic calming measures and street safety protections they deserve. This is why prioritizing equity in all of our transportation funding is so imperative.
The loss of Pedro Garcia Gomez was wholly preventable. We refuse to let another New Yorker suffer the same fate — especially when we have the tools to prevent this from happening again. We know that New York City’s speed safety camera program, coupled with street redesigns, saves lives. Now, we need to lift the restrictions that limit this life-saving tool. Speeding doesn't sleep and our speed cameras shouldn’t either.
Shaun Abreu is a member of the New York City Council and chair of the Committee on State and Federal Legislation, which is responsible for all home rule messages. Donovan Richards is the Queens borough president.